


what was and what is

by witticaster



Category: TAZ - Fandom, the adventure zone
Genre: Other, Stolen Century Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-26 18:12:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12064350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/witticaster/pseuds/witticaster
Summary: The first person Lucretia checks in on after getting out of Wonderland is Merle.





	what was and what is

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really know what this is, it just kind of came into my brain a little while ago. I think there will be more chapters? I don't know. I just love Lucretia very much

The first person Lucretia checks in on after getting out of Wonderland is Merle. 

It's been three days since she got out of the Arbor Wilds and, alright, it's not an entirely selfless action. She spends too much money taking a caravan out to the ocean. She keeps her blue hood over her face and her remaining money clenched tight in her hands. She asks the driver to stop a discrete distance from the beach, not wanting to make a scene for a group of adamantly laid-back dwarves, so the walk to the shore is longer than she would like. 

It's funny, the spontaneous aging. She doesn't feel completely different - it's still her body, her bones and her muscles and her frayed nerves - but everything takes longer. There's a deep scrape on her arm still healing. After she rises in the morning, her knees hurt for an hour before they adjust to standing. She has to squint and wait for her eyes to focus when she reads. 

It's only fair, she thinks, that she should feel at least some of her century in more than her mind. 

The arches of her feet are achy by the time she reaches the beaches of the Coralheart Clan. The sun is setting, the shore looks empty, and there are feasting lights further down the coast. As she gets closer, she can hear faint music: twangy strings and easy drum beats playing under a song about pretty girls. 

She's come on a holiday. It would be rude to risk intrusion.

Her throat is swollen and thick, and it won't let her swallow. Lucretia makes herself give a big exhale, which shakes when it leaves her mouth, and she shuts her eyes; she conjures the feeling of a friendly hand patting her shoulder or her head or her knee. There are plenty of those memories to choose from, and they have already happened. She doesn't have to waste time regretting the touches and smiles that will never be when she has the hard catalog of history. 

It's stupid to be upset. It's better to get back to work.

But Merle, of course, persuades her otherwise. 

He's shirtless and barefoot a little ways away, his pants rolled up unflatteringly to his mid-thighs, splashing around in the water. A tiny dwarven girl stands just at the edge of the tide. Lucretia squints: Merle has bits of seaweed braided into his beard and tied around his neck like a bow tie. The girl is wearing a sensible navy bathing suit and trying to shield her glasses from sea spray. 

They're talking; Lucretia's ears, like everything else, are slow. She's been running on reserves, but she casts something just strong enough to magnify her hearing. 

"Come on, Mavie!" Merle calls. "The only way to learn a shuffle step - and I mean really learn it - is in low tide."

The little girl sighs. "Dad, we have to get going, seriously. Mom told you that if we were late-"

"Mom tells us all kinds of things," says Merle. He holds his arms out wide and kicks his leg out with a grace that he doesn't know he worked hard to learn. He sends a huge arc of water towards the girl, who yelps and dodges sideways, her hands cupping around her glasses again. "Hey, look at you! Very dexterous! You know, if you wanted, you could make a good adventurer like your old dad."

"Have you even gone on any adventures?"

Merle puts his fists on his hips and stomps comically towards her, splashing with every step, leaning in to say, "You think I'd lie to you?"

She looks smartly back up at him. "I don't know. I just know all your stories are about weird dates and talking to plants. And a lot of those overlap. No adventures."

"Those aren't adventures?"

"Come on, Dad." The last of the far-reaching waves rolls in, reaching up to the little girl's calves. She turns to the setting sun, then looks down at her bare feet. Softer, she says, "We should really go. I don't want you and Mom to fight again, not tonight."

Merle straightens to smooth his hair back with a hand damp from seawater. The ribbon of seaweed around his neck comes undone in the breeze and drops pathetically into the water. 

His face looks the same, of course: kind and cheerful, goofy and caring. But there are things missing that would complete him, form the complete friend she'd spent a century loving and being loved by. He looks lost. Maybe if she'd left in just a few more memories, the imprint of the First Church of Fungsten, the taste of compassion he'd given John, something, anything to keep him from floating adrift-

He leans in again, his hands on his knees. "Just one dance with your dad?"

The girl smiles sympathetically and pats his arm. "Maybe later, okay?"

"Yeah. Okay."

He puts on his shirt and shoes while the girl slips into some sandals and pulls a big sweater over her head. She leads the way down the beach, her overly-long sleeves flapping, while Merle walks with his hands in his pockets. He kicks a conch shell into the surf.

When he glances over his shoulder, he sees the stranger on the horizon. 

"Hey there!" he calls, giving a big wave.

Lucretia casts Blink. Merle and the girl are watery grey mirages. Their voices are muffled. Merle scratches his head and says something to the girl, who takes hold of his hand and kindly drags him along the beach, towards the lights. 

There's no time to lose. Lucretia gets back to work.

**Author's Note:**

> if you caught the faint Kenny Chesney allusion you get 6 Merle Points. even if you didn't, you get 6 Merle Points, because Merle loves you.


End file.
